BOLOGNA, Teatro Manzoni

Weird as it may sound I have to say that after such a powerful rendition of the complete Blemish song-cycle [Hear it live and you will see with stunning clarity the perfect pacing of tracks, just like a 21th century Bach orchestral suite: it has to be played this way, unabridged and with the same running order of the disc] the rest of the concert, appealing as it is, comes out sort of a let-down. I think the show would have an even better impact with an intermission after the Blemish cycle close. After the ipnotic, majestic title-track the perfect, metallic presence of the sampled Bailey acoustic guitar adds on a menacing and towering [helped by the stark, ominous Takagi’s visual Mac work] rendition of The Good son and How little.. The brief She is Not is on electronics and connected to The Heart.. coda, the sampled handclap rhythm on Late Night… clearly recalling Radiohead’s We Suck Young Blood. Highlights are imho The Only Daughter with its lush visual artwork and the dark Jansen-enhanced rhytmic background of The Heart Knows Better, and obviously the sort-of-catharsis provided by A Fire in the Frest, when Takagi’s visuals and David’s lyrics [connecting to the last line of How little… “Let’s rise up again”] bring the entire audience to an uplifting moment underlined with discreet plaudits. After the fading of A fire.. starts the acoustic part of the concert and you simply don’t get the same intensity and presence of the Blemish tracks, likeable as it was to hear some minimal rendition of old warhorses. Standout of this 2nd part are surely the linked rearranged Maria- and (new menacing track) Wasn’t I Joe. The four-hand written World Citizen is not exactly essential, unlike the blues-dyed Jean the Birdman which sealed this intense and peculiar experience. As other have said, this live thrilling rendition really deserves a DVD release to fully appreciate its overall impact: it has to be deemed as a stark one-act play beside the more luxuriant arrangements of the previous tour, being this an altogether different approach. Moreover, people in the audience obviously knew what was about to be staged and reacted with an attentive and sharing approach, assisted by the noteworthy acoustic of Teatro Manzoni. A revealing live experience.